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THE END OF THE WORLD (August 2002)

You could call it actus interruptus. Annabeth Gish was just getting to know Monica Reyes, and just getting used to some pretty insane hours, when her stint on The X-Files came to a premature end.

Such is the life, Gish says, of a working actor: you work, and you move on. But she does feel a little bit as if she's been cut off just as she was hitting her stride. "Yeah, it's kind of a tease in a way because I have had episodes that have been devoted to fleshing out who she is, but they've been intermittent, throughout the mythology episodes," the actress comments. "So it's just been a little taste here and there and enough of a taste to make me know that I'm going to miss her. She's just incredibly fascinating to me. She has so many stories to be told about her, I think. So it's kind of sad to not know."

The show had been such a success in the days of Mulder and Scully that some commentators have been quick to blame the new partnership of Doggett and Reyes for its end, but Gish doesn't feel her time on the show has been a failure. "No. No, because I think... here's the blessing and the curse of this: the show is so much bigger than Annabeth Gish or Monica Reyes. I really don't know if it's even feasible that Doggett and Reyes could have replaced Mulder and Scully."

Apart from replacing them, she reckons that the most challenging aspect of working on the series has been the sheer workload. "It's the pace and the endurance that's required. You really don't have much time to rest and prepare. There's the physical aspect of needing to know your words for that day and then the next day and then the pace at which you have to keep creating, but there's also the actual physical activity that's required on the show. I had to do a lot of stunts and thrilling things that you don't even have time to decide whether or not you have the courage to do. You just have to because your character would. I had to do a stunt for the episode Audrey Pauley. I had to jump about 35 feet and I thought, 'What am I doing? Oh, my God.' I can't stop to think Annabeth-wise. I just have to go as Monica. That was an out of body experience."

Sounds paranormal... is the actress a believer in such things herself? "I am, yes. I think that's one of the things that has been a mutual play with Chris (Carter) and Frank (Spotnitz) and myself. A lot of what Monica is and says on the show is true to myself as well, in terms of keeping an open mind. And I do believe that there are other forces out there and larger realms. I'm open to them, but I'm also terrified of them."